1. Farewell! thou art too dear for my possessing,
2. And like enough thou know'st thy estimate,
3. The charter of thy worth gives thee releasing;
4. My bonds in thee are all determinate.
5. For how do I hold thee but by thy granting?
6. And for that riches where is my deserving?
7. The cause of this fair gift in me is wanting,
8. And so my patent back again is swerving.
9. Thy self thou gavest, thy own worth then not knowing,
10. Or me to whom thou gav'st it else mistaking;
11. So thy great gift, upon misprision growing,
12. Comes home again, on better judgement making.
13. Thus have I had thee, as a dream doth flatter,
14. In sleep a king, but waking no such matter.

This
sonnet reads as if it were the culmination
of the rival poets' sequence which has ended in the final rejection of
the
poet by the youth in favour of the rival. It links closely to Sonn.90
which
has the same theme of dealing with rejection. The opening word
'Farewell!'
is almost a sufficient summary of the whole poem. The long series of
loving
exchanges has finally come to an end, but the poet does not attach any
blame
to the beloved. Instead he finds justification for the rejection in his
own inadequacies and deficiencies. Nevertheless it is difficult not to
bring
an opposite meaning to the poem, a meaning which subverts its
ostensible
message. This subversion is achieved by the use of legal and financial
language
which throws upon the youth the suspicion that he is a calculating snob
who sees in his current liaison a serious misjudgement which will
damage
his social standing. The overwhelming sense of loss which the poem
conveys
also contributes to a feeling that the youth is cruel and responsible
for
an enormous and cynical betrayal.

Portrait of Sir
Philip Sidney, from the painted
frieze in the Upper Reading Room of the Old Bodleian Library, Oxford.

KDJ suggests that the
number 87 could be important
in the sequence, possibly as a glance at the structural arrangement of
Sir
Philip Sidney's Astrophil and Stella, a collection
which commences
a group of sonnets on the theme of separation at precisely this number.
Sidney could also be linked through his description of feminine
endings,
which are used to the full in this sonnet and Sonnet 20. See the
commentary
on Sonn.20 for the
extract from Sidney's Defence of Poesie which defines the types of
endings
possible.

The
Charter of thy worth giues
thee releaſing:
My bonds in thee are all determinate.
For how do I hold thee but by thy granting,
And for that ritches where is my deſeruing?
The cauſe of this faire guift in me is wanting,
And ſo my pattent back againe is ſweruing.
Thy ſelfe thou gau'ſt,thy owne worth then not knowing,
Or mee to whom thou gau'ſt it,elſe miſtaking,
So thy great guift vpon miſpriſion growing,
Comes home againe,on better iudgement making.
Thus haue I had thee as a dreame doth flatter,
In ſleepe a King,but waking no ſuch matter.

1. Farewell! thou art too dear for
my possessing,

1.
too dear = too precious. Also too
costly, too expensive; too damaging. An echo perhaps of: Was it the proud full sail of his great verse,
Bound for the prize of all too precious you, 86for my possessing = for me to possess. There
is also a paradoxical
sense which hovers in the background 'You are too much loved by me (too
dear) for me to be able to possess you in love'.

2. And like
enough thou know'st thy estimate,

2. like
enough = it is probable that,
probably. The expression however conveys a sense of doubt. Perhaps the
reasons
are not those shortly to be stated, and could be even worse (e.g. the
youth
is faithless). thy estimate = your worth in other's eyes, the
value people put on
you, your absolute worth independently of other's opinion.

3. The
charter of thy worth gives thee releasing;

3. The
charter of thy worth = a privilege
and license legally attached to you because of the qualities and
excellence
which are inherent in you. The word charter recalls the Great Charter,
or
Magna Carta, which listed the rights and privileges of the barons under
King John. Shakespeare uses the word usually in the sense of 'rights
and
privileges sanctioned by law'.

releasing =
freedom from the duties imposed by the bonds of love.

4. My bonds
in thee are all determinate.

4. bonds
- legal agreements, usually
such as are made between borrower and lender. Shakespeare also uses the
word in connection with the marriage bond and bonds of kinship. Thus
Cordelia
to Lear:
.....I love your Majesty
According to my bond, no more nor less. KL.I.1.91-2.
Onions gives four meanings of the word: 1. chain, fetter, usu.pl.;
2. tie of duty, obligation of affection; 3. cementing or uniting force;
4. deed by which one binds oneself to make a payment or fulfil a
contract.
It is often found in connection with some sort of loving relationship.
Of
75 occurrences of 'bond' in the Shakespearian corpus, more than half
occur
in the Merchant of Venice, in connection with the famous bond that
Shylock
has of Antonio, an agreement that Antonio will pay him one pound of
flesh
should he default on payment of a loan. In the plural (24 uses,
including
3 in the sonnets) the word often refers to a physical constraint. Other
than that it describes a moral obligation, or duty of love. The other
two
uses in the sonnets are as follows:

Accuse me
thus: that I have scanted all
Wherein I should your great deserts repay,
Forgot upon your dearest love to call,
Whereto all bonds do tie me day by day; 117

..........not
from those lips of thine,
That have profaned their scarlet ornaments
And sealed false bonds of love as oft as mine, 142

In this sonnet the
meaning is coloured by legal,
financial and loving considerations, and one could paraphrase as 'all
contracts
I have entered into to love you, (or for you to love me) are now
terminated'.

5. For how
do I hold thee but by thy granting?

5. The use
of the present tense here is noticeable,
suggesting that the severance has not yet taken place. One would expect
For how have I held thee. If one takes these
lines in their literal
and physical sense, as I believe one has to on occasion, the effect of
contemplating
the proposed separation is extraordinarily desolate. The emptiness is
almost
tangible as the poet reflects on the moments of love spent together
which
are to be no more. The continuation also of the legal and political
terminology
points the contrast between a simple and direct experience of loving
and
embracing and that of calculating the cost and benefit, since hold
suggests
holding a title and granting implies issuing a charter as a permit to
love.

Lines 5-12 also are
unique in their continuous
use of the feminine -ing ending, a repetition which
seems to hammer
home the finality of separation and the desolation which it brings.(See
note above next to portrait of Sir Philip Sidney).

6.
And for that riches where is my deserving?

6. that
riches - riches was often treated
as a singular noun, similar to French richesse.
Here it refers to
the wealth of loving, holding, possessing,

7.
The cause of this fair gift in me is wanting,

7. The
cause of this fair gift = the
justification for you granting this fair gift of yourself. is wanting = is lacking, is absent.

8. And so my
patent back again is swerving.

The Earl of Essex

8. patent
= A licence to manufacture,
sell, or deal in an article or commodity, to the exclusion of other
persons;
(See OED.2.), where the following example is also given: '1597 in
D'Ewes
Jrnls. 573 Abuses practised by Monopolies and Patents of priviledge.'
Towards
the end of her reign in 1601 Elizabeth was petitioned by Parliament to
correct
the abuse of patents and monopolies granted by her. She professed to be
surprised that such grants should act to the detriment of her people. A
well known case of a patent 'swerving back' to the originator (usually
the
Queen) was the monopoly of sweet wines which the Earl of Essex used to
enjoy,
and which was the chief source of his income. On his return from
Ireland
Elizabeth did not renew it (1600), and this led directly to Essex's
rebellion,
in which Shakespeare appears to have been indirectly implicated.

back again
is swerving
= reverts to the grantor. swerving is unusual in
this context but
is perhaps pressed into service for the sake of the rhyme with deserving.

9.
Thy self thou gavest, thy own worth then not
knowing,

9. Thy
self thou gavest - SB notes that
this phrase and possessing in line 1 are coloured
by ideas of sexual
possession and sexual submission. As also had in
l.13.

10.
Or me to whom thou gav'st it else mistaking;

10. Q
gives a comma after it, but the
natural meaning of the line seems to follow on from the previous one:
'Or
else you misjudged me, the beneficiary of your gift'. Most editors
retain
the comma after it and place an additional comma
after me.

11. So thy
great gift, upon misprision growing,

11. misprision
- OED gives various
meanings for this, some of them involving treason and felony. However
the
continuation of the sentence in the following line more or less
confirms
that the meaning required is 'misjudgement, error'. The error of
misjudgement
made is corrected 'on better judgement making'. Compare:

What hast
thou done? thou hast mistaken quite
And laid the love-juice on some true-love's sight:
Of thy misprision must perforce ensue
Some true love turned and not a false turned true.
MND.III.2.88-91.

upon
misprision growing
= founded upon misjudgement, becoming more misguided owing to the
preliminary
misjudgement.

12.
Comes home again, on better judgement making.

12. Comes
home again = reverts to the
owner; on better judgement making = when you
succeeded in making a true
and more realistic judgement.

13.
Thus have I had thee, as a dream doth flatter,

13. Thus
have I had thee - In the past
then it seems I have loved and possessed you only as etc. as a dream doth flatter - but only as in a
dream, which flatters
by pretending to be real. flatter also had the
meaning of stroke,
caress (OED.1.b.). See Sonn.33.

14. In sleep
a king, but waking no such matter.

14. In
sleep a king = being, when I sleep,
like a king (who is surrounded by flatterers); when I sleep enjoying
all
the privileges of royalty (by possessing you). no such matter = not a king at all; having no
such privileges, finding
that the situation is in no way as my dream showed it to be.